Hey everyone,


Just got myself a 1985 300td, she has between 300,000-400,000 miles. The car runs great(mechanics can't believe how many miles it has). I wanted everyones opinion on what the IDEAL maintainence schedule is for this car (i.e. oil, fuel filter, etc.), I want her to last me a lifetime, I already love this car. I want to start using homebrewed biodiesel and possible SVO, how would you change the maintainence if I do run her on veggie-derived fuel. Thanks a bunch

Oh yeah, another thing I was looking for advice on. I have a vacuum leak I believe. My automatic locks don't work if I the car has been off for more than an a few hours or so. A mechanic told me the LR window regulator needs replacement. Could this be causing the leak. How do I troubleshoot the system? With a vacuum pump? Thanks

the quickest way i found my vacuum gremlin was to go under the hood and find the door lock vacuum lines. find a yellow round cylinder that has 2 vacuum lines connecting into it from the firewall. those are your door lock vacuum lines. so what you do is disconnect that yellow cylinder in the front (where there is only one line going in) and plug it up.

what you have just done is isolated the door locks from the rest of your vacuum system. if get a mityvac, you can now see if you still have a leak somewhere.

__________________

Grey '91 350SDL 214k Dad's car
Beige '81 240D 4 Speed 254k SOLD
Blue '82 300D 225k SOLD
White '95 E300D 46k SOLD
Blue '87 190D 2.5 Turbo 315k SOLD
Brown '80 240D 4 Speed 716k SOLD
Beige '80 300D N/A 119k SOLD
Blue '85 300D Model 186k T-Boned

Best thing you can do is greese and oil, grease and oil. Use the best oil available. In my TDT I use Amsoil HDD This stuff has an extended service of 25,000 miles or one year. Change the filter every 3000 miles. I use Amsoil synthetic trans fluid and diff oil as well. Read up on it here http://www.synthetic-oil-tech.com/d.cgi/1359048/index.htm

It is the best period.

If you are in a hot climate like California, keep the dash "wet" (I have always liked 2001 product and also use LEXOL brown bottle) so it doesn't crack badly..and keep the seats wet if they are leather.

I used to do valves every 10K, oil every 2K or 2500, fuel filters every 5K, radiator and trani flush every 25K. My numbers are probably lower than what is needed I am guessing but oh well. Congrats on your purchase.

1st thing I would do is check whether it has 300,000 or 400,000 miles on it.

JUst something I would want to know if I actually just bought a car.....

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

A mechanic told me the LR window regulator needs replacement.

If you press the window switch and hear a grinding sound in the door panel with little or no movement of the window, it is probably the regulator. If you hear nothing at all, probably the switch is bad.

how would you suggest I find out how many miles she has, I don't think its that easy

Look here for vacuum basis and troubleshooting.

http://dieselgiant.com/mercedesvacuumtroubleshooting.htm

__________________
1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

There is a little window in the instrument cluster that has some numbers in it.........

Just kidding. I guess that your odometer is not working. Are there any repair records in the car? Maybe they can give you a rough idea of how long ago the odo stopped. Many repair records have the mileage of the car at the time of the repair.

Good luck....and enjoy the car!

Keith

__________________
1983 300SD "Helga"

I figure between 3 & 400K; you either don't have the car yet??? or you haven't bothered to check the odometer yet???
If the mechanics you took it to "can't beleive the miles on it"; they probably are the wrong mechenics to take the car to, 'cause they're either s**ting you or not familiar with M-B diesels.. If you have a choice where you are.
Change all fluids and filters asapossible.
If you want to run WVO or BIO get extra fuel fliters to carry as spares....
TRy the "search" button, and DIY links....ENJOY!

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

thanks for all the info I picked up a Haynes manual and am going to change oil asap. As far as the mileage goes, the Odometer reads 177,000 but the maintanence record (which I found after purchsase) reveal that the car had 298,000 in 2000. I figure they just replaced the odometer, so I can't be sure of mileage. I took the car to a MB dealer mechanic and an independent garage specializing in german cars. They both said they couldn't believe that the car had at least 300,000 miles. Just afre minor things (which they said dont need immediate attention): leaking reary, shock (with SLS), oil cooler line a little leak, turbo drain valve? is little leaky, oil pump a little leaky, needs gasket. Any suggestions on the order I should fix these, which ones are DIY (i'm fairly mechanically inclined). It looks like it was well mainained by prevous owners. I have some pics if anyone is interested:

www.nd.edu/~bpeters2


thanks again

Actually, it wasn't a leaking oil pump gasket, rather a leaking oil filter housing which needs a new gasket.